Collecchio, Italy: 14 August -- It has been a very long wait for the GB Under-13 girls’ fastpitch programme to get a first-ever win against a European team in the annual Massimo Romeo Youth Cup, which began in 2012 -- but then the London Cubs did it twice in one day on Friday.
This morning, the Cubs posted a 19-11 victory over Akademiks from Bulgaria, and this afternoon they followed that up with a 10-1 win over Joudrs Prague, with one more game left to play tomorrow in the competition’s Placing Playoff against Moscovia Marino.
For the first time since the GB programme has sent teams to this competition, our team is not going to finish in last place, and that will be a very sweet feeling for the players and the staff, led by Head Coach Beth Perkins.
The Under-13s are the starting point for the GB national teams programme, and improvement at that level, however small, is going to be felt further up the line over time.
The London Cubs finished last during the round-robin phase of the tournament that was played on Wednesday and Thursday, and they were beaten by mercy rule scores by all the teams in Group B. But the Cubs were clearly in the toughest group, since their two wins today came against teams from Group A. There is a long way to go before a British team can hope to win this tournament, but today was certainly a start.
London Cubs v Joudrs Prague
The improvements the Cubs have made over the course of the tournament were most clearly seen in today’s second game against Joudrs Prague, one of the Czech Republic’s strongest clubs, though perhaps not currently at Under-13 level.
All through the tournament, the British team’s problem has been pitching, with far too many walks and wild pitches conceded. This issue was evident even during this morning’s win over Akademiks, where Eliza Esiri conceded nine walks and five wild pitches along with four hits over three innings.
This afternoon, against Joudrs Prague, Kristen Kohler, who pitched the first three innings, and Eliza Esiri, who pitched the fourth, between them allowed just one hit, one run, one walk and two wild pitches, the kind of performance that will win a lot of games.
Scoring first
This morning against the Akademiks (see full report on this game below), the Cubs put their opponents under huge pressure by scoring 11 runs in the top of the first inning.
Against Joudrs Prague, the Cubs did it again, this time with seven runs to open up the game, and this time it was the other team serving up the gifts, as the Cubs benefitted from six walks and seven wild pitches to go with singles from Madison Gledhill and Kristen Kohler. The Czechs changed pitchers after starter Tereza Preslickova had faced only three batters, bringing in Martina Sebastova to finish the first inning, but the change didn’t really bring an improvement.
It was only when the Czechs changed pitchers again for the top of the second inning, bringing in Lucie Merxbauerova to pitch the rest of the game, that things calmed down. Merxbauerova held the Cubs to just one run in the second inning and two more in the third, giving up five hits but just one walk and one wild pitch and striking out six.
But given the effective and accurate pitching of Kristen Kohler and Eliza Esiri, the Cubs’ slowly-growing lead was more than enough. Kristen struck out eight Czechs in her three innings of work, and Eliza struck out two in her fourth inning relief stint.
The only run the Czechs scored came in the fourth inning when a wild pitch on a swinging third strike and a walk put two runners on base, and one scored on a double by Nela Janackova. But Eliza Esiri then recorded a strikeout, caught a pop fly and fielded a grounder for three quick outs that ended the game.
More runs
The Cubs’ run in the top of the second inning was built on consecutive singles by Rose Esiri and Madison Gledhill, who was 6-for-7 over the two games today. They advanced to second and third on a double steal and Rose scored on a Czech error.
In the top of the third inning, the Cubs scored their final two runs. With one out, Kristen Kohler walked, and with two out, Rose Esiri singled, and when the Czech second base player threw wildly, Kristen scored and Rose moved up to second base and scored on Madison Gledhill’s third single of the game.
London Cubs v Akademiks
An 11-run explosion in the top of the first inning, the largest single-inning score achieved by a London Cubs or GB Under-13 Team in the Massimo Romeo Youth Trophy, was the foundation for this win, with both teams scoring in all three innings played.
But the Akademiks, who finished winless at the bottom of round-robin Group A, just as the Cubs did in Group B, were unable to overcome that massive early deficit.
The Cubs out-hit the Bulgarians by a total of 11-4, and committed just three errors to four for the Akademiks.
Eliza Esiri pitched all three innings for the Cubs, with her sister Rose as catcher, and while Eliza still gave up some of the walks and wild pitches that have plagued the Cubs over the first two days of the competition, she showed ever-improving control and struck out six Bulgarian hitters.
Quick start
The Bulgarians took out starting pitcher Yana Dimitrova after she had faced just four batters in the top of the first inning. Dimitrova walked both Esiri sisters and then Michelle Shaw and threw three wild pitches before giving up a single to Madison Gledhill. There had also been three British stolen bases, and by that time three runs were home.
Giulia Putzu pitched the rest of the game for the Akademiks, striking out four but giving up 16 more runs, one of which was charged to Dimitrova, and Putzu continued the parade of walks and wild pitches. Further Cubs’ hits in a very long half inning were an infield single by Ellen Jacobson, a triple by Jasmine Lee Tin, a single by Eliza Esiri, a double by Rose Esiri and a triple – her second hit of the inning – by Madison Gledhill.
The bottom of the first inning did not start well for Eliza Esiri, as she walked four of the first five Bulgarian hitters and gave up a single to Elena Avanzini. But Eliza eventually struck out the side and limited the Akademiks to five runs.
Adding on
The Cubs got four of those runs back in the top of the second inning on two hits, a walk and two Bulgarian errors. The hits were singles by Jasmine Lee Tin and Josephine Morley, and four wild pitches by Giulia Putzu also helped the British cause.
The Bulgarians could only manage two runs in the bottom of the second inning as Eliza Esiri struck out two more batters and forced another runner out at home, so after two innings the British were ahead by 15-7.
In the top of the third inning, the Cubs more or less made the game safe. Hits by Eliza Esiri, Kristen Kohler and Madison Gledhill, who went 3-for-4 and had five RBIs, were combined with two stolen bases, two walks, an error and three wild pitches to produce four runs and take the score to 19-7.
The Akademiks got those runs back in the bottom of the third inning, scoring four times and threatening to get more. But Elena Avanzini was called out for leaving a base early as part of a double play, and Eliza Esiri struck out Yana Dimitrova to end the game and trigger the Cubs’ celebrations.
Whatever happens to the Cubs in their final game tomorrow against Moscovia Marino, they can come back to the UK having made some British softball history.
The Playoffs
Teams at the Massimo Romeo Youth Trophy are now well into the playoffs.
The Championship Playoff consists of two Russian teams – Moscovia and GDU SF42 Moscomsport – and two Italian teams – Italy 1 and Italy 2. These four teams are playing a round robin today to determine placings for a Page Playoff on Saturday.
The remaining six teams are playing a Placing Playoff round-robin, with games already played against teams in the first round-robin group counting as played games in this group. The six teams are Moscovia Marino, Joudrs Prague and Akademiks from the first round-robin Group A and Czech Stars, Gepardy Zory and the London Cubs from Group B.
Scores from today are:
CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYOFFS
Moscovia 10, GBD SD42 Moscomsport 0
Italy2 4, Italy1 1
Italy2 1, GBD SD42 Moscomsport 0
Moscovia 5, Italy1 1
In tomorrow's Page Playoff, Italy 1 and GBD SD42 Moscomsport will play the 3 v 4 game and the loser will be out. Moscovia and Italy 2 will play the 1 v 2 game and the winner will go straight to the final. The loser will play the winner of Italy 1 v GBD SD42 Moscomsport, and the winner of that game will go to the final.
PLACING PLAYOFFS
Gepardy Zory 19, Joudrs Prague 0
London Cubs 19, Akademiks 11
Gepardy Zory 10, Moscovia Marino 6
Czech Stars 22, Academiks 0
London Cubs 10, Joudrs Prague 1
Czech Stars 10, Moscovia Marino 4